Sam Rockwell has said he loved working with Colin Farrell and Christopher Walken on Seven Psychopaths (Picture: Getty Images)

The set-up of Seven Psychopaths involves a kidnapped dog. Do you like dogs?

Yes, I’m a dog lover. I have a German shepherd called Sadie. The shih-tzu in the film was great – not one of those yappy little dogs.

What was it like working with Christopher Walken and Colin Farrell?

Amazing. I’d worked with Christopher on a play before but hadn’t worked with Colin. However, I liked what he did on In Bruges. Woody Harrelson’s now a friend of mine and we all keep in touch.

Colin Farrell plays a screenwriter in the film. Have you ever written a screenplay?

No, it would have to be something very personal but I don’t consider myself to be a writer. It would have to come out of improvisations – that’s the only way I could do it. I like tragedies. I was really happy with Conviction, which I made with Hilary Swank. That was kind of a tragedy.

Some actors end up writing to get the work they want to do. Have you considered doing that?

I don’t know how to write. I have too much respect for good writers. I’m just trying to do one thing at a time. I’m still trying to work on being a good actor, so trying to write or direct would be a lot to get my head around. It’s hard to write a script. I have loose ideas but nothing I want to do yet. I like boxing but it doesn’t mean I want to do that myself. I’m not about to get in a ring with a prize fighter.

You’ve got five films coming out next year. You’ve been busy…

Two of them are cameos which only took a few days. The three with lead roles are A Single Shot, Better Living Through Chemistry and The Way, Way Back with Steve Carell. You go a long time without working and think: ‘I’d better go back to work,’ and then it goes from one extreme to another. It was a lot of work. The roles were very eclectic: a deer hunter with a beard, a mild-mannered pharmacist who is a regular guy with a midlife crisis and then the other one is a slacker-type guy. You want to change it up and do different things.

Have you been typecast in the past?

When you do something well, people want you to keep doing it. Sometimes it’s fun to do a version of something you’ve done before – sometimes you’re not done with something. I’ve done versions of the character in this movie before but it’s like playing Hamlet a couple of times – you want to play it again and do things differently. I played Stanley Kowalski in A Streetcar Named Desire a couple of summers ago and I want to do that again, I’m not done with that part. I feel sometimes I haven’t covered all the ground the first time around.

What made you want to get into acting?

My parents were actors and I grew up around the theatre. They took me to sophisticated movies – Deer Hunter, Taxi Driver, One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest – when I was around eight. I was an only child, my parents separated and I spent a lot of time alone. I identified with characters who were isolated, and movies such as Taxi Driver had a big influence on me. Or things such as Alien – they’re all trapped on this spaceship. I spent a lot of time alone so could relate to it. Moon, the movie I did, is to me about loneliness. That’s interesting to explore as an actor – it’s a catharsis.

What did you initially enjoy about acting?

It’s a therapeutic process. Your pain becomes fun. You can use those painful feelings and turn them into a craft. Van Gogh would paint something painful but it would be beautiful. You can turn sorrow into something beautiful and it becomes fun to go through that stuff.

Who have you learned the most from working with?

I’ve worked with John Malkovich, Gene Hackman, Robert De Niro, Christopher Walken, Drew Barrymore, Kevin Kline. I’ve been so lucky to work with so many amazing actors. You always learn from everyone, little things here and there. People work in different ways. You see some people conserving their energy between takes, while others work differently. You see good and bad examples and learn from both. You see some people being very tactful if they’re working on something where maybe the script isn’t all there. I’ve learned how to conduct myself on set from Alan Rickman – he was very good at working on the job at hand that day and tackling the scene. I’ve had very few bad experiences with directors or actors. There’s a lot of money spent making films and when things are taking too long and you’re losing light, people’s real characters come out. You find out who the real navy seals are.

What’s the strangest place you’ve been recognised?

When I was buying lingerie for my girlfriend in a sex shop in New York. I was recognised when I was waiting tables in a restaurant. I’d done Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles but didn’t have any acting work at the time. That was embarrassing and a little bit strange.